Loving is Over

Loving is Over / Cuban Law Association, Esperanza Rodriguez Bernal
Cuban Law Association, Esperanza Rodríguez Bernal, Translator: mlk

By Attorney Esperanza Rodriguez Bernal

At the Cuban Judicial Association, the cases with which we deal most
frequently involve housing.

For a very long time this was the exclusive jurisdiction of the State,
which was the only entity with the power to build (or to hand out the
rare license to do so). The housing stock was not able to grow for
many years and, as a result, we are now confronting dramatic
consequences.

The problem is not confined to buildings and houses that collapse when
it rains a little, due to a prolonged lack of maintenance. It also
occurs when conflicts arise from several generations, or people of
unequal levels of education and standards of behaviour, living under
the same roof. These conflicts are multiplied exponentially by the
fact that there are ever fewer units of housing available for
everyone.

The first projects of which I am aware were built in Habana del Este,
or "Pastorita," as it is often referred to. These were constructed
with care and by builders who knew what they were doing.

Another wave of construction activity occurred later, as I recall, in
Alamar. In contrast to the earlier projects, however, these later
constructions in general left much to be desired in terms of quality
and urban character.

Alamar is in no way comparable to Habana del Este. The worst thing
about this is that this implies a kind of devolution, since it would
have been logical to assume that the first projects built just after
the Revolution were surpassed by those built later, and not vice
versa.

But on top of the physical problem of a shortage of housing, there is
the fact that we are now a nation of more than eleven million
inhabitants. It is awful to see grandchildren trying to commit their
grandparents to an institution in order to be able to live by
themselves. Or a recently divorced man trying to evict his ex-wife and
children from their home, even when they have nowhere to go, because
he is in a new relationship.

And in that struggle it is possible to see everything, from threats
and domestic violence to bribery of housing officials to achieve a
singular purpose – one's own roof.

It's been a long time since I heard a song by Los Van Van, whose chorus goes:

"No one loves anyone, loving is over. . ."

Someone told me that they no longer play this on the radio or
television because it has been banned. I don't know, but what does
seem terrible to me is that we have lost, among so many other things,
the love of our neighbors and above all of those closest to us.

Translated by mlk.

September 6 2012

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